Garda Advise Organisations About Need for Vetting Compliance

An Garda Síochána is advising statutory, voluntary and community organisations that work with children and vulnerable people of the need, for them to be compliant with vetting legislation.

The Garda National Vetting Bureau has established a compliance unit that will be conducting regular checks on organisations to ensure they are adhering to their statutory obligations.

While An Garda Síochána will provide advice and guidance to organisations to help ensure compliance, The Gardaí advised organisations that they are liable for prosecution for significant and/or repeated breaches of the National Vetting Bureau Acts 2012 to 2016.

Regarding the information circulating on social media about Garda National Vetting Bureau (GNVB) carrying out compliance checks with ELC/SAC services, it appears that, as part of their compliance role, the GNVB carries out regular inspection visits to organisations working with children and vulnerable people to ensure they are compliant with their GV obligations.

For your information, attached is the GNVB annual report 2020 which gives an overview of what the compliance unit does. A summary of the role of the Compliance Unit below:

Garda Compliance Unit

• Established in 2018 under Section 24 of the 2012 Act to ensure vetting follows legal guidelines.
• Regular checks on organisations are conducted to ensure they adhere to statutory obligations.
• Ensures compliance with vetting laws to protect children and vulnerable persons.
• Provides guidance and advice to organisations to help them comply with the law.
• Investigates complaints, breaches of the law, fraud, and other unlawful incidents.
• Prepares legal cases and submits investigation files when offences are suspected.
• Can arrest and prosecute offenders if necessary.
• Organisations may face prosecution for significant or repeated breaches of the National Vetting Bureau Acts 2012 to 2016.
• Conducted 10,250 “relevancy checks” in 2020 to ensure vetting was done correctly.
• 739 applications rejected due to non-compliance with vetting criteria.
• Focused on preventing “over vetting” to keep the system fair and efficient.

GNVB Annual Report 2020 and also a Press Release from 2019 re: the GNVB Compliance Team.